Lilith: A Snake in the Grass: The Four Lords of the Diamond, Book 1

Aliens are spying on Earth from one of the four worlds that make up the Warden Diamond. But it is impossible to send agents to any of the four worlds because of unique microscopic symbionts that make it impossible for visitors to leave the Diamond. Seeking a unique solution, each of the four worlds making up the Diamond is sent a person whose mind has been stripped of everything and who is now controlled by an agent of the Confederacy. Lilith is the first planet to be visited.

Spirits of Flux & Anchor: Soul Rider, Book 1

Cassie did not feel the soul rider enter her body...but suddenly she knew that Anchor was corrupt, and that, far from being a formless void from which could issue ony mutant changelings and evil wizards, Flux was the soure of Anchor's very existence.

The price of her new knowledge is exile, yet Cassie and the Rider of her soul are the only hope for the redemption of both Flux and Anchor.

Lords of the Middle Dark: The Rings of the Master, Book 1

Long ago, the machines had rebelled, wiping out most of humanity and exiling the survivors in widely scattered reservations. Master System ruled unchallenged, the key to breaking its power - five microchips disguised as gold rings, carefully hidden away. But then an Amerindian called Hawks stumbled across information about the five rings, and suddenly Master System developed an interest in seeing Hawks dead....

The Birth of Flux & Anchor: Soul Rider, Book 4

The strange and haunted place called World has been a land divided between the stability of Anchor and the chaos of Flux - a land of near magic, where reality yields to madness. It is in this universe that courageous men and women battle treachery, rebellion, and hellish forces to establish a New Eden.

At the Sign of Triumph: Safehold, Book 9

The Church of God Awaiting's triumph over Charis was inevitable. Despite its prosperity, the Charis was a single, small island realm. It boasted less than two percent of the total population of Safehold. How could it possibly resist total destruction? The Church had every reason to be confident of a swift, crushing victory, an object lesson to other rebels.

And the Devil Will Drag You Under

Asmodeus Mogart was not a bad fellow, as demons go. Having gotten in trouble back in the home office, he had been assigned to duty on Earth. There he toiled, doing the kinds of things demons do and turning into something of a drunk. Then a rogue asteroid threatened to crash into Earth and destroy all life on the planet - demons included! There had to be a better way. Mac Walters and Jill McCullough, holding a private wake for their world in a Reno bar, were more than startled when a strange-looking little drunk told them they could save the world.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob): Bobiverse, Book 1

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets.

Shadow of Victory

Sometimes things don't work out exactly as planned. The Mesan Alignment has a plan - one it's been working on for centuries. A plan to remake the galaxy and genetically improve the human race - its way. Until recently things have gone pretty much as scheduled, but then the Alignment hit a minor bump in the road called the Star Empire of Manticore. So the Alignment engineered a war between the Solarian League, the biggest and most formidable interstellar power in human history.

When the Changewinds Blow: Changewinds Saga, Book 1

She was haunted by thunder and plagued by dreams... Strange, dark dreams of a world beyond time and space, a land of magic and mystery. But Charley knew it was more than a dream - for her friend Sam shared her vision. Suddenly, the dreams become a reality... As a raging storm sweeps Charley and Sam to the fantastic land of Akahlar, where unicorns and griffins run free, an enchantress commands a den of unearthly pleasures, and a wizard warns of a terrifying inescapable event.

Godsland Epic Fantasy Bundle: Godsland Series, Books 1 Through 9

Catrin Volker dreams of a peaceful life training horses. It's not to be. Comets appear in the night skies, announcing the return of a goddess. While trying to save her friend from bullies, Catrin unknowingly triggers powerful, ancient magic and fulfills a prophecy that says she will destroy entire nations. Her quest for peace captures the imagination with fantastical landscapes, magic, and dragons.

The Cybernetic Walrus: The Wonderland Gambit, Book 1

EVERYTHING YOU THINK YOU KNOW IS WRONG. That was the strange message left on Cory Maddox's e-mail.... That was the strange message left on Cory Maddox's e-mail - just at the moment when years of work on a revolutionary subspace computer system was about to pay off. Nothing would be the same for Cory again. Suddenly his life was thrown into chaos when the company that controlled his patent was sold out from under him, and instead of imminent wealth, Cory was facing immediate poverty. Then along came Alan Stark, who wanted to recruit Cory for a special research project on virtual reality.

A Question of Will: Aliomenti Saga, Book 1

Will Stark is a self-made multibillionaire, happily married, and a proud father. He arrives home to find his house destroyed and his family murdered and is himself rescued from certain death by a mysterious trio. His rescuers are part of a splinter faction of a centuries-old secret society that has developed incredible technological advances and unlocked the method to release humanity's innate potential. Will was mistakenly believed to be a key dissident and fugitive, on the run from the primary group, known as the Aliomenti.

The Moreau Factor

A hard-living reporter long past his Pulitzer Prize-winning prime, Chuck Vallone is about to meet a renowned geneticist who needs to clear his conscience. But when Vallone arrives at their rendezvous, he finds the D.C. hotel swarming with government agents. The scientist's room is now a grisly slaughterhouse splattered with blood - but no sign of a body.Vallone knows he has the story of the century, especially when he receives a mysterious package filled with a computer disk and strange samples of DNA. Now he's determined to uncover the truth.

Sol: The Silver Ships Series, Book 5

Sol's warships paid the ultimate price for threatening the Haraken and New Terran worlds. Now, Haraken president Alex Racine and his Méridien partner, Renée de Guirnon, are engaged in a desperate gamble to stop a war between their worlds and United Earth's (UE) massive forces before it starts. What's Alex's grand plan? He hasn't a clue, but his people believe in him and hope he will find a way to protect them.

The Secret of the Dark Forest: Way of the Shaman Series, Book 3

The virtual world of Barliona is a place of rest and entertainment - but not for everyone. It has become a survival arena for Daniel Mahan after he was sentenced to eight years in its virtual jail. Mahan has been through it all: the back-breaking work in the mines, betrayal by other prisoners, and finally, the retrial which has released him into Barliona's common world. What more could one want? Mahan could have kept a low profile and enjoyed relative freedom while serving the rest of his time.

Rune of the Apprentice

In a world where magic, technology, and nature have merged, the few who can control Runes hold dominance over all of creation. All believe that Aleksi, a 16-year-old orphan, was blessed to be born with a Rune embedded in his palm, but that's only because they don't know the truth - Aleksi's Rune is so powerful it's killing him.

The Real Story: The Gap into Conflict: The Gap Cycle, Book 1

Author of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, one of the most acclaimed fantasy series of all time, master storyteller Stephen R. Donaldson returns with this exciting and long-awaited new series that takes us into a stunningly imagined future to tell a timeless story of adventure and the implacable conflict of good and evil within each of us.

In Times Like These

Benjamin Travers has been electrocuted. What's worse, he and his friends have woken up in the past. As the friends search for a way home, they realize they're not alone. There are other time travelers, and some of them are turning up dead.

Child of the Daystar

Among the scattered fringe cities bordering the Cienbal desert, the true name of the Monster of Karth is spoken only in whispers...RAZ I'SYUL ARRO. A sellsword of the utmost caliber, Raz is a killer of paramount skill and highest regard. Towering tall even amongst the atherian, he is the only of his kind to live free in the "civilized" confines of mankind's varied cultures. He has no need of loyalties, his sole affections pledged to the gold crowns that buy his time and skills.

Otherlife Awakenings: The Selfless Hero Trilogy

Runner and his team managed to bring peace to Tirtius, successfully log the crew out, and have begun settling in to make a home on the isle of Vix. Fate isn't going to let them go that easily though. She clearly hasn't decided on what to do with him. Plots are in motion. Threats local, divine, and abroad scheme to exterminate Runner and the threat he represents. The possibility of what he could become.

The Web of the Chozen

Nobody beats Bar Holliday. He was paid to find the Terraformable worlds, new planets for his corporation to plunder. Up until the day he came upon Peace Victory, an abandoned generation ship hovering ominously above a definitely habitable planet, he believed nobody ever could. Nobody beats Bar Holliday....because he was never satisfied with anything lower than first place, because he was always the oddball, in charge of his own welfare, his own destiny...a man determined to make his mark in the world and win games at any cost.

Publisher's Summary

At the heart of a bizarre planet lay the goal of every being that had ever lived.…

Below average in height and unprepossessing in appearance, Nathan Brazil is an unassuming if cynical starship owner, carrying passengers and cargo for a living - hardly the sort of person to hold the fate of the entire universe in his hands.

But when Nathan detours from his route to answer a distress call, a hidden stargate hurls him and his passengers to the Well World, the master control planet for the cosmos. Billions of years ago, a godlike race unlocked all the secrets of space and time and remade the universe according to their grand design. Then they vanished and left behind the Well World to maintain the pattern of the universe.

Now someone is searching for the planet’s hidden control room - the Well of Souls - to seize control of the cosmos. Nathan must stop them, but this planet causes bizarre metamorphoses in visitors, changing them into centaurs, mermaids, and giant insects seemingly at random. As a result, Nathan no longer recognizes his friends, let alone his unknown enemies. His task seems hopeless - until his long-suppressed memories begin to return and he realizes who he really is.

It's been a while since I've penned a review - So much listening, and so little time.

However, I'm ready to begin another series of reviews on Audible scifi/fantasy selections.

So, let's begin with Jack L. Chalker's "Midnight At The Well Of Souls."

Why is this audiobook first? Simple. It's the beginning of a FANTASTIC series that will captivate you with a rich, rewarding listen, and have you wanting the next in the series, Exiles at the Well of Souls, which is also available.

This is the opening book for a VERY powerful series, one that pushes the boundaries of typical science fiction as you know it. Imagine, if you will...

The Well World: A world created by a long-vanished race, covered in vast, country-sized hexes, each housing a different intelligent alien species. Crossing the boundaries of the hexes can change the very air you breathe, the laws of physics, technology and even magic. Each hex represents the birthplace of that species, and some are at war with others. They can take over other hexes, enslave an adjacent hex's species, and can even forcibly swap hexes with another race. Creatures of myth, fantasy and nightmare vie for control of a planet they cannot leave, but can eventually rule. Even mankind occupies a hex on this planet.

One half of the planet houses carbon-based hexes, the other half alarmingly alien hexes, and each hex is the birthplace for these races and their migration into the universe eons ago. This world is countless light years away from our own, unknown, hidden and waiting for an opportunity to rewrite the universe to its own making.

The story begins with a host of human castaways that accidentally travel to the Well World, and are each randomly changed to a new species in different hexes.

It is all part of a very large story that will soar across the surface of the Well World in its telling, as many races and hexes to vie for a rare and valuable treasure that can change the Well World and our universe forever!

Despite all this, I haven't given away any spoilers whatsoever!

Chalker's Midnight At The Well Of Souls was so well received when it was first published, that he went on to write many more novels to expand the stories both upon the Well World, and even light years beyond it. Be careful, Audible listener. Once you travel down this wonderful rabbit hole, you might very well not turn back! It truly is that amazing.

This is the first book in a wonderfully imaginative series that takes me back to my early teenage years when I first discovered it. Chalker creates a weird and detailed setting for the novel and the characters are memorable. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys intelligent science fiction stories.

I REALLY liked this book in the beginning. I liked it pretty good in the middle. I liked it well enough to try to finish it by three quarters. I didn't really like it at the end.

Why? It's hard to say exactly, but it started out as a cool story with a interesting concept, a wide array of characters and a goodly amount of mystery. Near the end, most of the mystery was gone, the characters got stale, the story broke down, and things just went off the sci-fi rails.

Maybe it was just my mood, the phase of the moon, or maybe this review is right. In any case, it would be a worthwhile read just for the first half, very inventive! The narration is very good as well.

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?I have found that most of the reviewers that like this, start by saying they read it when they were teenagers. I can see a teenager liking this, especially one new to Sci/Fantasy. They aspect of meeting new creatures such as Cousin Bat, would seem interesting to the novice listener or this could bring back good memories. To the well read in this field this is STAGNATION. The bulk of the book is running around a built world meeting strange creatures, such as human plants, centaurs, batmen, half snake and half walrus, etc... The first few that you meet are interesting and done well by Chalker. I found the human plants and the episode of the twining to be pretty cool. I really liked the Kafka moment of the man turned into a female insect. The problem is that this all gets old and redundant.

Science/FantasyAnother reviewer remarked that this is science fantasy and I feel that is a perfect description. It started out pretty interesting, with an archeological dig on a unpopulated planet of an extinct race. This starts one of our first Introductions. We also meet some interesting characters. The planet had been run by a brain that was the world itself. I was soaking all of this up. I also enjoyed the space truck driver and the introduction to his world. It all seemed pure Science Fiction. Then they fell into the well and the story went strictly fantasy. At first it seemed even this would be worth listening to, but about five hours in, it becomes monotonous. I hung on for two more hours hoping it would return to the well written story it started as, then Jim the Impatient called it quits.

World of Tiers This is very similar to Farmers, World of Tiers. It is also reminiscent of Anthony's, Split Infinity. The book is dedicated to Roger Zelzany and his style is evident. You will find most of Chalker's work in the paperback section of you used book store and it seems their is a reason you will not find him in hardback. I have one more of his books on my wish list, hopefully that will be better, as it seems he has lots of talent.

If you could sum up Midnight at the Well of Souls in three words, what would they be?

Really Good Sci-Fi

What was one of the most memorable moments of Midnight at the Well of Souls?

Hard to say...Chalkers' overall writing style was breezy, enjoyable and entertaining. The entire book is part adventure, sci-fi, fantasy and character development. I found myself getting drawn in bit by bit and didn't want it to end. Thankfully there are others in this series.

What about Peter Macon’s performance did you like?

At times it was stilted...maybe the performance demanded it..overall I liked him a lot

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes...I just never do that with audible. I usually listen to books in my car and at the gym.

Any additional comments?

I don't understand why Chalker was not more popular and well known. This writing is on par with early Asimov and the style is reminiscent of classic science fiction. This is entertaining, fast paced, and utterly enjoyable. Something that will let you relax and take you out of your every day. Loved it.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I loved this series back in the 80s when I was a teenager, but like so much Sci Fi from then it does not hold up well against the works of modern writers like Peter F. Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, etc.. The world/universe is almost cartoonish and the villains rather laughable and some of the characters actions are inconsistent or unbelievable. I would call this more Science Fantasy than Science Fiction.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I'm actually listening to Exiles at Well of Souls to see if it gets any better...so far it has not.

I first read this book in the mid-eighties it was wonderful to relive the storyline. I can't tell you how much the ending theme of the story had a profound effect on the rest of my life! really wish that one day perhaps the story could come to life on the big screen!

Your mileage may vary - I was actually a bit surprised that I found this one so dull. I think it might be because I didn't care even slightly about any of the characters, and thus had no real interest in whether they lived or died or turned into wacky aliens. The fact that this is only book one in a series might have been a turn-off too, since it basically guarantees the characters will not get a denouement this time around.There was also a profound lack of mystery - stuff just happens. People get sucked through a big black circle and turned into aliens, and if nobody in the book finds this strange or interesting, why should I?The alien species are kind of interesting, but it just wasn't enough to go on for pages and pages and pages.

It started well and I was interested but then it spent so long simply describing each different realm and creature. The story then got a bit lost in the descriptions.

What aspect of Peter Macon’s performance might you have changed?

The narration was fine.

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Maybe it improves at the end - I didn't get that far, I did try to!

Any additional comments?

It is the first audio book I gave up on at just over half way. Guess I need a bit more action!

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Paul Conder

Auckland New Zealand

6/30/13

Overall

Performance

Story

"Finally! And gald it's unabridged"

Would you listen to Midnight at the Well of Souls again? Why?

I am already on my third listen through of the best Jack L Chalker there is! I am so glad this is unabridged. While Peter Macon does an ok but uninspiring read, the drama of Chalker's original story comes through. Picking up a mix of mythology and new creatures Chalker manages to convey the mystery of a world where every country is ruled by different sentient beings and the main characters are transformed while still reflecting their innermost beings.

Any additional comments?

I can't wait for the next installments.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Report Inappropriate Content

If you find this review inappropriate and think it should be removed from our site, let us know. This report will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.